I think I disagree with adding a summary being antithetical to the argument of legibility and efficiency killing creativity. First, summaries are important from an explanatory perspective. It helps readers have context for what they are reading, and I think that is especially important as different readers read texts differently. Readers can prefer to read more linearly, or they can prefer to jump around the text however suits their own style. Readers also come with widely different points of view and preconceptions which might make it much harder to linearly control the flow of how the authorâs ideas are understood.
Second, while I agree that adding a summary adds to efficiency, but I donât think that this is an example of the type of creativity-killing overefficiency. Then again, I havenât read this whole post and Iâm not sure what your argument is, I can only guess. On a broader scale, do you think that efficient communication is killing creativity?
I would say that reading the whole piece would clear up these issuesâthe second half (III and IV) is very different than the first and it might be hard to understand the whole thrust the argument without getting to the end.
I donât disagree with all of your points here regarding summaries and communicative efficiency. I think my argument is that other values necessarily get sacrificed in the name of efficiency and clarityâaesthetic value, persuasive efficacy, diversity of style/âtone. Insisting that every article aims for clarity/âefficiency is going to standardize articles in a way that affects the authorâs creativity and the mindset of the reader. There is nothing wrong with your preference for articles to conform to the âEA forum normsââthis is a style that is good for quick intake of informationâbut there are other goals that one can have in writing and reading. I would say my goal in this article is persuasive and inspirational, and as such there is (I hope) an artistic quality that is probably not found in many articles on here. Adding a summary, in my opinion, would detract from these goals/âqualities. For example, as I said the second half of the article is very different than the firstâa reader who knows what is coming to some degree might not feel the same emotions (and might not be inspired/âpersuaded) as they would if going in cold. While summaries might convince some people to read on, they also might stop some people from reading who would just plunge in otherwise. I would argue that the people who would be dissuaded from reading this article because of its summary are probably the people that need to read it the most, so in this sense of a summary is kind of self-defeating.
A summary is also good if you want the largest number of people to read your article, but there is no reason why this must be your goal as an author and it is not mine here. I would rather fewer people read the essay and actually think about it then more people read it but just skim.
Thanks for your comments! I never really had to make this argument before but Iâve had this feeling for some time. I canât say Iâm super familiar with the EA forum and the typical writing styles/âformats, curious what you or others think about it.
Thank you, I think I understand your point of view and I think that it makes total sense that youâd prefer to keep this post the way it is. My takeaway is that while Iâm personally optimizing for efficiency and clarity, this neednât be the case for everyone in every post and that is fine on the forum (at least to some extent which is likely higher than what we currently have).
I think I disagree with adding a summary being antithetical to the argument of legibility and efficiency killing creativity. First, summaries are important from an explanatory perspective. It helps readers have context for what they are reading, and I think that is especially important as different readers read texts differently. Readers can prefer to read more linearly, or they can prefer to jump around the text however suits their own style. Readers also come with widely different points of view and preconceptions which might make it much harder to linearly control the flow of how the authorâs ideas are understood.
Second, while I agree that adding a summary adds to efficiency, but I donât think that this is an example of the type of creativity-killing overefficiency. Then again, I havenât read this whole post and Iâm not sure what your argument is, I can only guess. On a broader scale, do you think that efficient communication is killing creativity?
I would say that reading the whole piece would clear up these issuesâthe second half (III and IV) is very different than the first and it might be hard to understand the whole thrust the argument without getting to the end.
I donât disagree with all of your points here regarding summaries and communicative efficiency. I think my argument is that other values necessarily get sacrificed in the name of efficiency and clarityâaesthetic value, persuasive efficacy, diversity of style/âtone. Insisting that every article aims for clarity/âefficiency is going to standardize articles in a way that affects the authorâs creativity and the mindset of the reader. There is nothing wrong with your preference for articles to conform to the âEA forum normsââthis is a style that is good for quick intake of informationâbut there are other goals that one can have in writing and reading. I would say my goal in this article is persuasive and inspirational, and as such there is (I hope) an artistic quality that is probably not found in many articles on here. Adding a summary, in my opinion, would detract from these goals/âqualities. For example, as I said the second half of the article is very different than the firstâa reader who knows what is coming to some degree might not feel the same emotions (and might not be inspired/âpersuaded) as they would if going in cold. While summaries might convince some people to read on, they also might stop some people from reading who would just plunge in otherwise. I would argue that the people who would be dissuaded from reading this article because of its summary are probably the people that need to read it the most, so in this sense of a summary is kind of self-defeating.
A summary is also good if you want the largest number of people to read your article, but there is no reason why this must be your goal as an author and it is not mine here. I would rather fewer people read the essay and actually think about it then more people read it but just skim.
Thanks for your comments! I never really had to make this argument before but Iâve had this feeling for some time. I canât say Iâm super familiar with the EA forum and the typical writing styles/âformats, curious what you or others think about it.
Thank you, I think I understand your point of view and I think that it makes total sense that youâd prefer to keep this post the way it is. My takeaway is that while Iâm personally optimizing for efficiency and clarity, this neednât be the case for everyone in every post and that is fine on the forum (at least to some extent which is likely higher than what we currently have).